Joshua Bell must have in his attic a painting of himself looking old and playing out of tune. We were convinced the picture on his website were all softly lenses and careful airbrush. But no, we were five rows from him yesterday at Davies Symphony hall, and other than a deal with the devil, how else to explain his real youthful looks, his hair flowing just right, his footwear so pretty it had to be Italian, and his technical perfection with his Stradivarius? He first appeared with the symphony in 1991, he's forty three, he can't be a heartthrob for ever. more ›

SF Symphony guest conductor Fabio Luisi did his best last week to steal the thunder of violin megastar Joshua Bell. He opened the program with a tone poem by Richard Strauss, Don Juan. Tone poem means a symphonic little piece which tells a story, and, more often than not, said story is rather hard to follow: the instrumental language of an orchestra, as powerful and evocative as it is, is still open to multiple conflicting interpretations. To each their own daydream. Not with Luisi's Don Juan: after a crisp, brilliant opening that said, here comes Don Juan, he does not fuss around, Luisi and the SFSO delivered a sexy, lush rendition of the piece. It was a propulsive, erect, fanfare-ish opening. The strings (and Barantschik in particular) were seductive, the brass blended with the orchestra. A oboe playfully riffed on a snake charmer melodic line. more ›

Both the San Francisco Symphony and the San Francisco Opera open their new seasons this week. more ›